Irish Translation Forum

I'm an Irish-Scottish American bassplayer.

I've 5 basses in my collection, and I give them Gaelic, or Celtic culturally-themed names.

My 6-string fretless is named after The Gaelic word for 'ocean', which I believe is "Aigean".

But there's some debate as to the pronunciation, and no native speaker(s) handy.

I've only books, and if I interpret the IPA guide correctly, the suggested pronunciation is something like "ah-GANE".

A bit of help, please?

Go raibh maithe agat.

When you say "Gaelic", do you mean Scottish Gaelic, Irish or Manx? The difference is quite important as they are essentially three different languages.

Aigéan (note acute accent) is pronounced a-gain, with the stress either on the first syllable or the second, the first syllable being short. /a'ge:n/ or /'age:n/.

While "aigéan" is often quoted as the Irish for "ocean", I'm not sure as to what extent, if any, it is used by native speakers in the Gaeltacht. "An fharraige" or "an fharraige mhór" is what I imagine to be the most common expression.

There are other words for "ocean": "bóchna" or "bóchtaine" is sometimes used in Corca Dhuibhne in the southwest. "Midh" (pronounced "mig") is also sometimes heard for "the open sea". "Teiscinn" is another word for "open sea".

Go raibh maith agat, Carmanach.

Níl a bhuíochas ort